By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

The recent spate of roster changes at local newspapers’ sports desks continues with news that Rob Bradford of the Lowell Sun is set to take over the vacant John Tomase slot at the Lawrence Eagle Tribune. (Tomase is currently at the Boston Herald, where he’s jumped headlong into the Patriots beat.)

Bradford, whose fantastic book Chasing Steinbrenner helped to raise his local and regional profile, should be making the switch by the first week in November, Scott’s Shots has been told.

Chasing was a different, less preachy type of Moneyball and showed how the Blue Jays and the Red Sox went about competing with the Yankees in 2003. It also helped introduce the cerebral Bradford and highlighted his people skills (especially with JP Ricciardi and Theo Epstein).

He will mostly be responsible for Red Sox coverage as well as some other feature writing opportunities at the EagTrib.

Bradford goes from a paper with a daily circulation near 50,000 to one with a slightly large audience of 60,000 (both add between 2-5,000 readers on Sundays).

The move also brings Bradford, a married father of three, a little closer to the buzz and pulse of greater Boston. It could open more doors for him at either of the two, relevant, sports talk radio stations as well. Bradford has always impressed these ears whenever he has been a guest (or even fill-in host) at ‘EEI. More opportunities should be coming his way. You hear that Jason Wolfe? Oh, and J-Dub, it’d be great to hear from you if you get a minute. You’ve got the Shanty’s digits, I believe.

A native of Essex, Mass., Bradford graduated from Springfield College and bounced around as a freelancer for a bit (even starting his own freelance company) before becoming the Gloucester Times sports editor. That gig eventually led to the breeding ground of School Sports Magazine [a pub that once cut checks to many current, Boston-area media folks including Jeff Goodman (foxsports.com), Christopher Price (Metro) and Matt Kalman (Herald).] All tolled, he has been around the Sox for better than a decade. He also dabbled in TV on the way up, interning at NESN and Ch. 40 in Springfield (the outfit that brought masterful Mike Ratte to WB56.)

Bradford’s role at the Sun for the past five years has been to work the Celtics beat and help out Chaz Scoggins on the Red Sox. Almost all of his recent work has been devoted to the Sox.

. . . With Bradford’s time at the Sun setting, Boston’s sports media scene has experienced a virtual avalanche of job shuffling in recent months. Herald hero Howard Bryant is a dotted “I” and crossed “T” from moving to D.C. Mike “Pieces Of” Reiss has exploded onto the Globe and boston.com pages from his former spot at the MetroWest Daily News. And Tomase’s move to the Herald makes three. It’s also opened a showcase for Albert Breer, the MetroWest writer who has slid into Reiss’s old print slot for Big Sister, the Herald (Breer doesn’t blog from what we can discover).

All of this mid-level movement comes on top of the shake-up that brought down the, ah, scintillating seven at the Herald and doesn’t even count the pending cuts at the Globe (likely to have some effect on Sports).

It’s an unstable time for the newspaper people (as always, really) and what we’re seeing is people (employer and employee alike) trying to align themselves with the best available choices.

If the Web folk start looking for original content in ORIGINAL manners, there could be some movement through that tributary as well. If that occurs – and it’s starting to, slowly and encouragingly – we might also find more shuffling at the top levels where a guy like Bob Ryan or Gerry Callahan could have some value for new partners in new media.

Once the Google, Yahoo!, AOL and whomever else is getting involved on the AOL Instant messaging (AIM) partnership gets resolved, there will be a trickle down and power grabs for marketable, talented personalities.

Put another way, the shake-ups are just beginning and if, for some crazy reason, the Herald winds up being gutted, there will be way too many job seekers for this ‘lil ole market to handle. We’re thinking LA is the answer. Is there a Hull in LA? Anyone? Hull, Califonia? Ugh.

. . . Bradford’s move isn’t a huge one in terms of increasing paper size, but he sees potential at the EagTrib that’s more intriguing than what the Sun has. Truth be told, neither paper has figured out its sports web presence yet, so there doesn’t appear to be blog or web-based reasons for Bradford’s move. He simply must feel better with the package and duties at the EagTrib.

. . . I’m sorry, but the Shots Fantasy Sportswriter Depth Chart does not provide us the name of a reasonable replacement for Bradford at the Sun. OJ Mayo seems to be a popular name these days as the Next Jordan. Maybe he can be the Next Bradford too. . . Matt Kalman, by the way, seems to have oodles of talent and versatility. He’d a be a good candidate if the Sun needs a name to look at. In fact, another School Sports alum, Christopher Price, would be too, although the Metro’s probably a better gig on a lot of levels. . . Ha! I said I had no one on the depth chart and in three sentences I speculate on two worthy names. I’m completely out of control! Mel Kiper, Jr. - HELP!

. . . Both Bradford and Bryant used well-received books to help bolster their careers, a practice becoming more and more prevalent as self-publishing becomes more widespread. (Not to mention we’ve done a lot of winning in these parts as of late and winners get attention almost as much as dynastical losers. Both capitalized on increased attention to the Sox.)

. . . Speaking of books, here’s a rough description (described by a close, personal friend of Bradford’s) of RB’s next book project and folks, if he pulls this one off, we could be talking Pulitzer. You want out of the box?:
“The second book revolves around Bradford (a non-runner) training and running the 2005 Boston Marathon while being coached by LA-based celebrity coach, Gary Kobat (trainer to Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey),” according to the friend of Rob. [Shots notes that Kobat also trained the JAG guy Not that we know what JAG is, really.]

“Along the way Bradford gets advice and workout with an eclectic group of people (Moby, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Mike Dukakis), kind of like a ‘Who’s Your Caddie.’ Since (Rob) did it in 4:00:03, it is probably turning out to be a two-year project – because the goal was to beat four hours.”

For three lousy seconds and the chance to get running tips from a smart-ass hand-puppet, I’d take the thing as is. It’s gotta be golden. . . Send me the galleys, will ya? And good luck at the ET – Shots trained under the new News head honcho there, Karen Andreas, long, long ago. She was top notch in ’89 at the Beverly Times under the ultimate nice guy editor, Paul Briand.

We’re betting she runs a pretty good operation for the transitioning Trib. Good hire, Karen – Bradford’s got superstar potential. (That BevTimes staff also included Herald biz guy and Inspector Gadgets, Eric Convey who was covering Shots home ‘hood of Tanner Town at the time. And Shots was this little Syracuse intern trying to get through Danvers and Ipswich select board meetings without dozing off. And the police blotter gig in the darkest of mornings? Some of my fondest memories. Did manage to get a couple of nice clips though – sadly, I’m still using them as evidence of my best (only) work. Wow – memory lane snuck up on me like the Tobin Bridge split at The Zake. Sorry. One last thing: Whatever happened to that scary court reporter Pam? Something? Whooo. Still get chills thinking about her. Oh, and what about Ginny the obit taker? Classsic stuff)

. . . Stop wasting time here and go to Deadspin.com’s Stephen A. Smith summary from the other night’s show-taping. Classic, classic, classic. Photos, screen grabs and just the right amount of text to leave you wanting more.

. . . Yes, if you’re wondering, we will have a regularly scheduled Shots this week. But admit it, you like having us in your life more often. Hedonistic haters, that you are.

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. and can be reached at shots@bostonsportsmediadotcom